Dr Oliver Booth
- Email: ptojb@leeds.ac.uk
- Thesis title: The Conservative Party under Cameron, May and Johnson: Change through Chaos
- Supervisors: Dr Timothy Heppell, Dr Richard Hayton
Profile
I passed my PhD in October 2024 (subject to minor corrections). My PhD research looks at the Conservative Party under the leadership of Cameron, May, and Johnson. My thesis adopts three main themes: leadership, which I explore using innovative comparative methods to explore leadership selection and the Greenstein model to assess leadership performance; ideology, where I study the extent of ideological renewal from 2005 to 2022; and institutions, where I track the behaviour and compositon of factions within the Conservative Party using quantitative analysis. My PhD is situated within wider discussions of the Conservative Party, British politics, and comparative methods.
Publications
- Booth, O. (2024) The Downfall of Boris Johnson: Analysing Patterns of Opinion among Conservative Parliamentarians in the Confidence Motion and Mass Resignations. Representation.
- Booth et al. (2023) Selecting Sunak: Conservative MPs’ Nomination Preferences in the (Second) British Conservative Party Leadership Election Parliamentary Affairs.
- Heppell, T. & Booth, O. (2023) The Conservative Party Leadership Election of 2016. In Roe-Crines, A. S. & Jeffery, D. (eds.) Statecraft: The Policies and Politics of Prime Minister Theresa May.
Teaching
I am teaching on one module in Semester 1:
- British Foreign Policy PIED3158
- The Politics of Global Challenges PIED1001
I have previously been a Postgraduate Dissertation Tutor.
Research interests
- British politics
- Political economy
- Political leadership
- Political ideology
- Parliamentary parties
Qualifications
- MA International Political Economy (University of Birmingham)
- BA Business Economics (University of Hull)